MH17 crash: Ukraine says it adhered to ICAO recommendations

Kiev, Oct 14 (IANS) Ukraine has fulfilled all safety recommendations made by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) at the time of crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko said on Tuesday.

“All recommendations, provided by the ICAO have been implemented by the Ukrainian side,” Zubko told a press conference on the release of the final report into the MH17 crash.

The report released by the Dutch Safety Board earlier in the day confirmed that the MH airliner was shot down by a Buk missile. It did not say who fired the missile, but pointed that airspace over eastern Ukraine should have been closed at the time of the crash.

When asked why Kiev had not banned commercial flights over the conflict-torn eastern regions, Zubko said that Ukraine was “gradually closing” its airspace up to the altitude of 9.75 km.

Air traffic restrictions had been in place over eastern Ukraine since July 1, 2014, due to the hostilities in the conflict between pro-independence militants and Ukrainian government troops, he said.

Since July 14, 2014, the minimum altitude was increased to 9.7 km and the MH17 was flying above the restricted airspace, he added.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died.

The opinions, views, and thoughts expressed by the readers and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of www.mangalorean.com or any employee thereof. www.mangalorean.com is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the readers. Responsibility for the content of comments belongs to the commenter alone.

We request the readers to refrain from posting defamatory, inflammatory comments and not indulge in personal attacks. However, it is obligatory on the part of www.mangalorean.com to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments to the concerned authorities upon their request.

Hence we request all our readers to help us to delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by informing us at info@mangalorean.com. Lets work together to keep the comments clean and worthful, thereby make a difference in the community.